I had PTT last year, awful. The day I strained the PTT it felt like someone stabed a knife just below my ankle. Couldn't run another step. In fact, I couldn't run a step for 10 weeks. The biggest problem was getting the inflammation down so it could heal. I went on crutches for 2 weeks to get all weight bearing off it (stupidly it took me 3 weeks to do this) - walking hurt. So the first thing was to ice it like crazy and take a quick course of anti-inflammatories (something like celebrex). I also used an anti-inflammatory cream called Traumeel on the skin over the PTT at the ankle from about week 6 until maybe 20 weeks post injury (once started running I'd put it on after every run). While getting the inflammation down, then next key to recovery was massage.
The biggest thing I did to help was lots of massage, ART, and Graston. You've got to get the post. tib. muscle and the muscles around that area to relax. That and the Graston plus massage on the actual tendon help it heal. Find someone certified in ART/Graston.
10 weeks post injury (while still getting the massage) I was able to go out and walk/jog (4 x 2min walk/2min jog). I carefully built up mileage over about 2.5 months to original volume. Recovered really well and 5 months later started racing and setting PRs*.
also: Strongly recommend at least a good 2-3 months of above massage before even thinking about surgery.
*during my 10 week down time I did do some cross training, so I was able to keep from losing all fitness. I found that I could swim with a pull-buoy between the legs (upper body work only - but hey, it's still cardio), and strangely enough I was able to tolerate the indoor rowing machine (got to use proper form though - I knew a former elite who could show me how). Things I couldn't do: swimming using legs (resistance of water on foot pulled PTT), water "running" (same problem as swimming, but worse), biking (pressure on pedal put stain on PTT), or the eliptical.
Note, I did not do any stength exercises for the tendon until I started up the walk/running. Up until then it really was about keeping inflammation down and massage to get the thing to heal. There was so much inflammation at first that it would have been counter productive.
Since then I make sure to get regular massage and also do pre-hab (wobble board, calf raises, drills in grass, whatever I can think of/tolerate).
FYI: I was wearing the Kinvara when the tendon gave in. Many different things led up to the injury, but I think the final blow was that the Kinvara (1st version) was really soft, very high off the ground, and thus unstable. Last may not have been a perfect fit for me either. I still run in nuetral shoes and racing flats, but I do best if they have a lower profile to the ground. So if you want to go minimal, something like the NB minimus or a good old racing flat is a lot better option than the Kinvara...
That's a ton of stuff, but if it can help, good luck.